Weed Wars, ’shifting positions’ on Medical Cannabis

[asdjrocky]

Dispatches from the California Marijuana Front
May 3, 2010


Charles Lynch outside courthouse in San Luis Obispo County.

One of the most compelling cases pitting California’s medical marijuana law vs. federal authority to prosecute medicinal pot unfolded in the coastal town of Morro Bay.

There, Charles Lynch opened a marijuana dispensary called Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers in early 2006. The mayor, City Council members and officials from the local chamber of commerce came out for the ribbon-cutting.

But in 2007, at the behest of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department, federal drug agents raided the dispensary. Lynch was arrested on five felony counts, including conspiracy to distribute marijuana and providing marijuana to person under 21.

In 2008, Lynch was convicted on all counts and sentenced to five years in federal prison.

the rest
http://centralvalleycannabis.com/?p=505

[ixion]

1. It was/is utterly ridiculous to waste resources prosecuting/incarcerating

people like this.

End the so-called 'war' on drugs. Now.

[asdjrocky]

3. Hear! Hear!

Persecution is the word for what they tried to do to Charles Lynch.

[potsmokinghippie666]

2. -

I feel sorry for Charles. I don't get why some people in the US are so scared of cannabis.

OHMAHGAWD!!! ITS A PLANT WITH MEDICAL PROPERTIES!!! RUN!!!!!!!!:sarcasm:

[asdjrocky]

8. Welcom potsmokinghippie.

The 666 thing is kinda freaky, but I welcome you!:hi:

[Greyhound]

4. K&R.

[wildbilln864]

5. k&r! nt

[Flaneur]

6. Even the federal judge who sentenced him knows the pot law is fucked up:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/city-news/federal-judge-change-pot-law/

Federal Judge Suggests U.S. Change Anti-Marijuana Law, Friday, Apr. 30 2010

a California pot shop owner to a year behind bars on federal charges of cultivating and selling marijuana, a U.S. district court judge based in Los Angeles suggested that the federal government change marijuana's outlaw status.

Judge George H. Wu was very sympathetic to the plight of 47-year-old Charles Lynch, who was convicted in 2008 after federal authorities moved against his Morro Bay dispensary despite his bending over backwards to abide by California's medical marijuana law. "Individuals such as Lynch are caught in the middle of the shifting positions of governmental authorities" vis-a-vis pot, the judge wrote.

Lynch was also caught in between presidential administrations: After Barack Obama took office he ordered the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to stand down on enforcing federal drug laws in states where medical marijuana is legal.

Wu wrote that (PDF) " ... much of the problems could be ameliorated...by the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I," which is the government's highest, outlaw-drug category.

[asdjrocky]

10. Slowly but surely,

We're winning a quiet war.

[Swamp Rat]

7. k&r

[mdmc]

9. 2010 and the same neocons are running the drug war

:(

[asdjrocky]

11. Not in California!

We're winning in at least one state.